(Photo: KPTV screen grab)
A 7th grade girl and a school bus operator collided yesterday as the bus left the parking lot of Beaverton Arts & Communications Magnet High School, which is about seven miles west of Portland. The wheel of the bus ran over the girl’s leg. She suffered a compound fracture and was admitted to the hospital in serious condition (she is reportedly already recovering and has been upgraded to fair).
Here’s what KPTV reported about the crash last night:
“A Beaverton police spokeswoman said the seventh grader was riding her bike the wrong way in the school’s parking lot and crashed into the bus. The bus driver was in the proper lane, officers said, and did not see the girl.”
From the photos it looks like the girls was riding in the bike lane on Center Street. I’ve got a call into the Beaverton PD to find out what let them to believe the girl was “riding the wrong way in the school’s parking lot.”
In their report this morning, KGW says it’s, “unknown who hit who” (also interesting to note that the KGW URL has the headline of “7th grade girl collides with bus…” but the headline now reads “Beaverton girl on bike run over by school bus.”
Here’s video coverage of the incident from KGW’s newscast:
I think the language used after crashes like this is extremely important.
You might recall that this is the same school that Austin Miller attended. Austin Miller is the 15 year-old who died after colliding with a TriMet bus as he rode home from school back in February 2008 (read our extensive coverage of that tragedy).
I’ve got calls into the Beaverton PD for an update on the investigation to learn more about how this crash occurred. I’ll keep you posted. Also check the discussion going on in our West Side forums.